Toy



July 11, 1939.. F, BISCHOF 2,165,833

' TOY Filed April 14, 1939 M 29 INVENTOR Finn/f Bar/t ATTO R N EYPatented July 11, 1939 PATENT OFFICE.

TOY

Frank Bischof, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Dowst Manufacturing Company,Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application April 14, 1939,Serial No. 267,755

5 Claims.

5 article of this character which may be used by children without thelikelihood of attendant noises or the danger of marring finishedsurfaces, but which at the same timeand even when subjected toabuse-will remain operative.

A still further object is that of furnishing a toy which may bemanufactured by quantity production methods and minimum expense, andwhich toy will embody an extremely attractive appearance.

With these and further objects in mind, reference is had to the sheet ofdrawings illustrating practical embodiments of the invention and inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of toy embodying the presentimproved construction.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a. wheel and hub which may form a partof the same;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 and inthe direction of the arrows 25 indicated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a very similar view to Fig. 3 but showing an alternativeconstruction; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the parts as shown in Fig. 4.

30 In these views the reference numeral l0 indicates the body of a toywhich, as shown, may be in the form of a truck. This body may be formedof any desirable material but is preferably die cast and furnished withdownwardly extending axle-supporting portions ll. These portions areformed with openings through which axles [2 may pass, it being of courseobvious that the latter may be mounted in one of a number of differentmanners. I v 4 In order that a toy may be presented which may be used bya child with minimum damage to furniture or other polished surfaces, andwhich aside from this advantage, will not be noisy in use, it isproposed to employ wheels of rubber, 45 or similarly soft material. Inother words, these wheels will be formed of this material throughouttheir bodies and may include, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, aperipheral portion 13, a hub portion I4, and an intermediate connecting50 web or part.

The difiiculty with units of this nature is that when a child pressesvigorously down on them, they-due to their inherent resiliencetend todistort. Thereupon gne is confronted with the 55 situation that, forxample, the projecting parts of the vehicle to which these elements areattached, may come directly in contact and be rubbed over a polishedsurface so that an even worse marring of the same occurs than would havebeen the case had one not employed wheels 5 of this character.

The present invention aims to retain the ad vantages of wheels of thischaracter in association with a toy, but at the same time will includeastructure such that a child may use and abuse the toy without thedanger of scratching surfaces, or without the probability of renderingthe wheels nonrotatable. The latter condition, of course, may ordinarilyprevail where relatively great pressure is exerted and the wheel isdistorted to a point at which it no longer presents a periphery evenapproximating a circle.

Thus, as shown in Figs. 1 through 3, a hub portion or plate l5 may beinterposed between the head or end l6 of the axle and this plate shouldpreferably be of a diameter such that its edge extends into the plane inwhich the reduced or connecting portion of the wheel extends. Moreover,the plate should preferably be .of a concave-convex structure andarranged so that its edges extend inwardly in contact with the wheelportion. In order to secure the parts against movement, the plate mayhave integrally formed with its body, inwardly extending prongs I! whichare of a length less than the thickness of the wheel body, but at thesame time secure the plate against rotation with respect to the wheel.

As will be noted after the plate l5 has been positioned on the wheel,and the prongs i1 projected through the latter, the ends of the prongsare bent inwardly to prevent an accidental loosening of the plate 15.The bending of the prongs may be accomplished by placing the wheel in apress which engages the ends of the prongs and causes them to be bentinwardly. Obviously the same result could be accomplished by subjectingthe prongs to a blow, or the squeezing action of pliers, or the like.

In the form of unit shown in Figs. 4 and 5, plates 2!] and 2| mayencircle the axle 22 to either side of the wheel 23 and these platesmay, if desired, be formed merely with a pair of prongs 24. In such casethe prongs on the opposite plates are preferably spaced ninety degreesapart, so as to provide for maximum support. Likewise as has beenheretofore described in connection with Figs. 1 through 3, the ends ofthe prongs 24 are bent inwardly after the plates are in position toprevent a retraction thereof.

Also, while the outer plate is retained against movement by the head orend of the axle 22, the inner plate may be prevented from freeing itselffrom the wheel by, for example, striking out portions 25 of the axle.Again in this form of unit, it will be seen that the aforementionedadvantages follow. It will also be appreciated that in all forms of theinvention a construction is provided which materially contributes to theappearance of the toy, and that this construction is furnished by adesign which lends itself readily to quantity production methods andminimum expense.

Moreover, in common with the previously described form of the invention,it is preferred in this form that the hub portion or surfaces of thewheel, extend at least into the plane of the peripheral or bead portionthereof, or slightly beyond the same. These extended portions are, ofcourse, accommodated incident to the concave nature of the plates orcaps and thus maximum rigidity of the parts is assured withoutdetracting from the desirability of the wheel of this character.

Thus among others the several objects of the invention as aforenoted areachieved. Obviously numerous changes in construction and rearrangementof the parts might be resorted to without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined by the claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is;

1. In a toy, a wheel formed throughout of yieldable resilient materialand including a body presenting an enlarged peripheral portion, and aperforated central hub portion,. an outwardly bowed circular perforatedplate covering the central and hub portions of said wheel, prongsextending from the edge of said plate and imbedded in the body of saidwheel to prevent relativerotation of the latter and plate and tomaintain the perforations thereof in alignment, a shaft extendingthrough said perforations, and means associated with said shaft andcontacting said plate to prevent withdrawal of the prongs of the latterfrom said wheel body.

2. In a toy, a wheel formed of resilient yieldable material andincluding a body presenting a relatively enlarged peripheral beadportion, an inwardly spaced relatively recessed surface and a perforatedcentral hub portion, an outwardly bowed circular perforated platecovering the central and hub portions of said wheel, prongs extendingfrom the edge of said plate and imbedded in the body of said wheel toprevent relative rotation of the latter and plate and to maintain theperforations thereof in alignment, a shaft extending through saidperforations, and means associated with said shaft and contacting saidplate to prevent withdrawal of the prongs of the latter from said wheelbody.

3. In a toy, a wheel formed of resilient yieldable material andincluding a body presenting a relatively enlarged peripheral beadportion, an inwardly spaced relatively recessed surface and a perforatedcentral hub portion projecting into a plane beyond that of saidperipheral portion, an outwardly bowed circular perforated platecovering the central and hub portions of said wheel, prongs extendingfrom the edge of said plate and imbedded in the body of said wheel toprevent relative rotation of the latter and plate and to maintain theperforations thereof in alignment, a shaft extending through saidperforations, and means associated with said shaft and contacting saidplate to prevent withdrawal of the prongs of the latter from said wheelbody, the outwardly extending central portion of said plateaccommodating the hub portion of said wheel.

4. In a toy, a wheel formed of yicldable resilient material andincluding a body presenting enlarged peripheral bead portion, inwardlyspaced relatively recessed surfaces providing the sides of said wheel, ahub portion formed with a perforation and projecting into planessubstantially the same as the side edges of such bead portion, platescovering the sides of said wheel and in line with the opposite hubportions thereof, said plates being outwardly bowed to accommodate saidhub portion and said plates being each perforated, prongs forming partsof said plates to prevent rotation thereof with respect to said Wheels,and to maintain the perforations thereof in alignment, the prongs in thedifferent plates being arranged out of line with respect to each other,a shaft extending through said pcrforations, and means associated withsaid shaft and bearing against the exterior plate faces to preventwithdrawal of the prongs of the latter from said body.

5. In a toy, a wheel including a body formed of resilient yieldablematerial, a peripheral portion which under the action of pressure tendsto be materially distorted, an inwardly spaced relatively recessedsurface forming a part of said wheel, a central perforated hub portionalso f crining a part of said wheel, a perforated plate having its edgedisposed in line with the recessed surface of the wheel and lyingadjacent the inner surface of said peripheral portion and in contactwith said hub portion, prongs extending from said plate and imbedded insaid wheel at points adjacent the inner surface of the peripheralportion thereof, an axle extending through said plate and hubperforations, and means associated with said wheel to prevent an axlemovement of said plate with respect to said wheel body and whereby whenpressure is applied to the periphery of said wheel and tends to distortthe same, the edge of said plate will rigidify such peripheral portion.

FRANK BISCHOF.

